Meretseger ("She who Loves Silence") was an ancient Egyptian queen consort.

Biography

Meretseger appears in sources of the

New Kingdom of Egypt The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioca ...

as the wife of

Senusret III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the ...

. According to that she would be the first Egyptian queen consort to bear the title

Great Royal Wife Great Royal Wife, or alternatively, Chief King's Wife ( Ancient Egyptian: ''ḥmt nswt wrt'', cop, Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ Ⲟⲩⲣϣ), is the title that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who served many official ...

, which became the standard title for chief wives of pharaohs. She was also the first queen consort whose name was written in a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

. However, as there are no contemporary sources relating to Meretseger, she is most likely a creation of the New Kingdom. Along with

Khenemetneferhedjet II Khenemetneferhedjet II ''(Weret)'' was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, 12th Dynasty, a wife of Senusret III., p.96 She was one of four known wives of Senusret III, the other three were Meretseger (queen), Meretseger, Nef ...

and

Neferthenut Neferthenut was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. She was most likely the wife of Senusret III. Neferthenut was ''king’s wife'', ''member of the elite'' (iryt-pat) and ''she who sees Horus and Seth''. She is so far only ...

, she is one of three known wives of Senusret III (a fourth, possible wife is

Sithathoriunet Sithathoriunet (her name means “daughter of Hathor of Dendera”) was an Ancient Egyptian ''king's daughter'' of the 12th Dynasty, mainly known from her burial at El-Lahun in which a treasure trove of jewellery was found., p.99 She was possibl ...

). She was depicted on a New Kingdom

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(EA846) and on an inscription in

Semna The region of Semna is 15 miles south of Wadi Halfa and is situated where rocks cross the Nile narrowing its flow—the Semna Cataract. Semna was a fortified area established in the reign of Senusret I (1965–1920 BC) on the west bank of the N ...

dating to the reign of

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...

.Dodson & Hilton, p.97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meretseger 19th-century BC women Great Royal Wives People whose existence is disputed Queens consort of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt Senusret III